In re the Portage Park development: why in the world is there a pedestrian walkway OVER THE TOP of the mall-and-parking-lot? Is there an elevator at each side? Bizarre. Why not a hallway/walkway at ground level cutting through?

JacobEPeters

Regarding the 32nd Ward preservation ballot question. I am hoping that it is used for actually preserving historic buildings & focusing high density development onto the empty lots & the redevelopment of non historic strip mall sites. My fear is that “character” will ignore that highly dense courtyard apartments without parking are a big part of the Logan Square “character”. But most of the empty lot sites are in the 1st ward rather than the 32nd, which mostly covers the boulevards.

BlueFairlane

I’d like to see it help avoid the situation that’s happened right next door to my building. A beautiful old home dating to around 1900 (listed as multi-unit, but only because the attic was converted to give the owner’s kids an apartment of their own) was demolished and replaced with two single-family boxes stuffed on what I see as one lot. Overall density stays the same, but the boxes are way out of place.

Henry

Random Loop Link story: yesterday I biked on Washington from Canal to Dearborn, then north on Dearborn across the river. Here’s what I encountered in a six-block span:

– Complete bike lane blockage after Wells (with caution tape) forcing me to swing over into the red bus lanes until LaSalle.
– Another full blockage at Clark – same result. Here the bike lane is now the de facto sidewalk due to more construction.
– Private vehicle blocking (standing in) the Dearborn bike lane just east of Daley Plaza.
– Large postal truck that pulled over and parked RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME in the lanes just north of Lake, causing me to quickly swing out into traffic again.

So this whole setup can still be quite the obstacle course. Fortunately this was around 11 AM so I didn’t have to worry about heavy bus traffic.

JacobEPeters

yes, preserving buildings rather than preserving height. I really am just worried that it will be used as an out of context cudgel to oppose dense redevelopment of empty lots & single story non contributing structures.